A Nod Is As Good As A Wink Or Not
by Matroushka
Summary: Ron is reluctant to tell Molly about his relationship with Harry. Slash. Challenge response. Details at end of story.


**A Nod is as Good as a Wink... Or not.**

"So, you're sure. You're definitely ready to tell Molly about us," Harry said as he stepped out of the Floo into the living room of the Burrow.

"I said I would, didn't I?" Ron said. He sounded irritated, and Harry suppressed a sigh as he brushed a few spots of soot off his jeans.

Ron pushed open the door and Harry followed him into the kitchen. Molly was doing something at the stove, and she turned to greet them, smiling brightly. Her smile diminished after a moment, and she stared pointedly at the door.

"I thought you were bringing someone with you tonight," she said. "Both of you."

Harry nudged Ron, who opened his mouth and then snapped it shut again. Harry glared at him and said, "Actually, Molly, we -"

"Dragonpox," Ron blurted out. "It's terrible, Mum. There's a real epidemic, and they both came down with it. They were really upset about it."

Molly pursed her lips for a moment. "Dragonpox," she said in a flat voice. "Both of them. How convenient."

Harry took one look at her face and quickly looked away. How Ron could fail to see the pain in his own mother's eyes as he stood there and lied to her was beyond him. But then again, Ron wasn't exactly acting rationally at the moment. He was utterly convinced that his mum would be devastated to find out that he was gay, and had become totally fixated on that one idea. Harry thought the whole situation was ridiculous. Everyone else in the family knew, but Ron had forbidden them to tell Molly, and had come up with his allegedly foolproof plan: dropping hints. He had blithely assured Harry that his mum was bound to catch on sooner or later, and then she would already know. Sort of. So when he confirmed her suspicions, it wouldn't be such a shock.

Harry had told him he was full of shit.

"Oh, look, there's Arthur," Harry said as he caught a glimpse of the man through the kitchen window. "I'll just go and say hello."

Harry quickly made his escape, and gratefully stepped out into the crisp evening air. He could see Ron's dad scratching his head as he stared at a partly dismantled lawn mower that was propped up against the side of the garden shed.

"Evening, Arthur," Harry called out as he made his way over to the shed. Arthur looked up and gave him a wave.

"Evening, Harry. Do you know what this is?" Arthur asked as he jabbed his wand experimentally into a hole in what Harry was fairly certain was the fuel tank.

"I wouldn't do that," he said quickly. "It could cause an explosion."

Arthur withdrew his wand hastily. "Really? Is that where you put the eckeltricity, then? Because it doesn't look like the other machines."

Harry shook his head. "No, it runs on petrol, same as the car."

"Oh, how wonderful," Arthur said, grinning widely. "I've got some of that in a jar somewhere. Now where did I put it?" He turned and wandered off into the shed, and Harry followed him in with a resigned sigh.

"Molly might get a bit tetchy if you start doing that now," Harry gently pointed out as Arthur began picking up jars and peering at them for a moment before discarding them.

"Oh, I'm not going to do anything tonight," Arthur said. "Not with everybody coming to dinner. I just thought that, while I was out here, I might as well... Aha! Knew I had some!"

Arthur picked up the large, dusty jar and carefully placed it on his workbench.

"So, is Ron talking to Molly, then?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No, the git. Well, yes, he's talking to her, but he's trying to convince her there's been a sudden outbreak of Dragonpox."

"Molly's going to be so upset," Arthur said he wiped his hands on an old rag. "She's got it into her head that either you boys are ashamed of us for some reason, or there's something wrong with your girlfriends, and that's why you don't want to bring them here. I told her that was nonsense, but when she asked me for another explanation, I couldn't think of anything convincing. I know I promised Ron I wouldn't say anything, but if he won't tell her, I'm going to do it myself. I love my children, Harry, but I won't let them hurt their mother needlessly."

"You're right. I'll talk to him again."

"Dad! Mum says she needs a hand." Ron's voice drifted in through the open door, and Harry peered out through the dusty shed window to see Ron walking across the garden towards them.

"Better see what she wants, then," Arthur said regretfully, eyeing the jar of petrol longingly. "Molly's gone all out. Wanted tonight to be special."

Harry winced. "I'm sorry, Arthur."

"Not your fault," Arthur said. "Anyway, Percy and Penny are bringing the new baby over, so she'd probably have done all this anyway."

"I suppose so," Harry said with a sigh. Molly absolutely doted on her grandchildren. She loved being a grandmother, and was always talking about how much she was looking forward to all her children settling down and having families of their own. And that was the problem. Ron had told Harry that he didn't want to break his mother's heart by telling her straight out that he'd never give her grandchildren. And Harry understood that, he really did. But Molly had consistently misread every one of Ron's veiled comments, and as far as Harry could see, Ron's plan had simply made matters a hundred times worse.

"Bill and Fleur are bringing their two with them, as well, so that'll take Molly's mind off -"

Ron chose that moment to poke his head through the shed doorway, and Arthur stopped speaking abruptly.

"There you are. Mum said -"

"- she wants a hand. I heard you, Ron," Arthur said. He turned to Harry and added, "You two don't need to rush back. If you want to have a chat." He then gave Ron a rather pointed look before shuffling past him and heading back to the house.

"What was all that about?"

"Your dad asked if you'd told Molly about us, yet."

"Oh." Ron shuffled his feet, avoiding Harry's gaze. After a moment he continued, "I don't know what happened. I meant to tell her, Harry, I really did. But when I opened my mouth all that came out was that stupid excuse about Dragonpox."

"It really upset her," Harry said. "Wouldn't it be better to -"

"To what?" Ron interrupted. "Break her heart?"

"I think you're severely underestimating your mum, Ron."

Ron shook his head, a mulish expression on his face. "I think I know my own mother well enough to know how she'll react, Harry."

Harry sighed loudly. "Fine. But no more fake girlfriends, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Ron said sheepishly as Harry stepped closer and slipped his arms around Ron's neck.

"I don't even want to pretend to be snogging anyone but you," Harry said softly as he leant in and captured Ron's lips.

-----

Arthur stepped through the kitchen doorway into chaos. Bill was loudly berating Fred and George while Fleur attempted to catch her children, who were racing around the kitchen, squawking madly. They were covered in green feathers that periodically fell off and exploded in a shower of sparkles. The children were obviously having a wonderful time. Percy was hovering protectively over Penelope, who was sitting stiffly at one end of the kitchen table, her baby clutched against her chest. Molly was waving a wooden spoon and shouting at the twins, who were cackling madly while keeping out of range. Arthur took one look at her face, placed his wand against his throat, and a moment later his magically amplified voice reverberated throughout the house.

"That is enough!"

He bit back a chuckle at the stunned looks on his family's faces as they stood frozen, staring at him in surprise.

"Fred, George; clean up this mess, now. Bill, stop shouting. You're scaring Penny. Molly love, put that spoon down and go and get a breath of fresh air while I sort this out."

Molly began to protest, but Arthur plucked the spoon from her hand and steered her out of the kitchen door, saying, "Take a break. You've been cooking all day. This ungrateful lot," he glared at his sheepish children, "can take over, now." He summoned a bottle of Butterbeer, opened it, and placed it in his wife's unresisting hand. "Get yourself a chair and put your feet up for a few minutes. I'll call you when we're ready to eat."

It wasn't until he'd stepped back into the kitchen that he realised that all the garden chairs were stacked in the shed. With Harry and Ron. He chuckled softly. Maybe it was for the best.

-----

Ron's head jerk back, breaking their kiss, as Arthur's amplified voice floated across the garden.

"Fred and George must have arrived," Harry said with a snigger. "They said they had a new Wheeze they wanted to try out on the kids. A variation on their Canary Creams."

Ron snorted. "Bill'll kill them. If Mum doesn't get to them first."

"We should probably go in. Say hello."

"In a minute," Ron said as he tightened his arms around Harry. "Now, Mr. Potter, what were we doing before we were so rudely interrupted?"

"I believe we were snogging, Mr. Weasley."

"Best get back to it then," Ron said with a grin.

Harry tilted his head and slipped his arms further around Ron's neck, bringing their lips together once more. He felt Ron's hands slip down to cup his arse, and moaned appreciatively as Ron gave a little tug, pressing them even more closely together.

"Ronald Weasley!"

They jumped apart, turning guilty faces towards the open doorway.

"And Harry. What on earth do you think you're doing?"

Molly stood in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest, glaring at them. A bottle of Butterbeer lay on the grass at her feet in a frothy puddle.

"Mum!" Ron yelped. "I can explain. We were -"

"You were what, Ron? Well, I'm waiting."

Molly's expression was thunderous, and she tapped her foot impatiently as her gaze flicked from one guilty face to the other. Harry took a deep breath, opened his mouth, then snapped it shut again as inspiration stubbornly refused to come. He could think of absolutely nothing that would sound even vaguely plausible to the irate woman in front of them. Apart from the truth, of course. He looked at Ron and shrugged.

Ron pursed his lips, a determined look in his eye. He exhaled loudly, then reached out and wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders.

"We're together, Mum. I'm gay. I'm sorry I haven't told you before. I kept dropping hints, but you seemed absolutely determined to misinterpret every single one of them. There never were any girlfriends. It was always just me and Harry."

Harry smiled widely at Ron, who grinned back at him. "You were right, mate. I should have told her before," Ron said.

"All this time, you've been lying to me?" Molly looked devastated, and Harry winced.

Ron looked his mother in the eye, then raised his chin defiantly. "I'm sorry, Mum. But this is who I am. I love Harry, and he loves me. I know you want me to get married and have children, but that's not going to happen. I can't pretend to be something I'm not. So you'll have to get used to the idea. And if you can't accept me for who I am, well, that's it, then. Because I'm not giving Harry up. Not even for you."

Molly blinked slowly. They stood in uncomfortable silence for what felt like hours to Harry, until eventually Molly said, "You thought I'd reject you?"

Ron's brow furrowed and he gave his mother an incredulous look. "Well, yeah."

"How dare you, Ronald," Molly said hotly. "How dare you think that I would act like that. That I would push away one of my own children over something so trivial. I've never been so insulted in my entire life."

"But...but you were really hurt and angry and -"

"You lied to me! You thought so little of your own mother that you thought I'd hate you for being who you are. What have I ever done to make you think that of me, Ron?" There were tears in Molly's eyes, and she fumbled in her apron pocket and pulled out a crumpled handkerchief.

"Oh, God, Mum, I'm so sorry," Ron said. He gave Harry a squeeze before quickly stepping forward and pulling Molly into a hug. "I'm sorry, Mum. I was an idiot," he said as he patted his mother's back soothingly. "It's just... You kept on and on about us all getting married and having kids. It seemed so important to you, and I thought you'd hate me for not wanting that."

Molly sniffled into her handkerchief, then she mopped her eyes, blew her nose loudly and tucked it away again. Ron moved back slightly so he could see Molly's face.

"Of course I went on about it," Molly said softly. "All any mother wants is for her children to find someone to love, settle down and be happy with. That's all I've ever wanted, Ron. For all my children. And if Harry makes you happy, then I'm happy for you. Both of you," she added, nodding in Harry's direction.

"Thank you, Molly," Harry said with a smile.

"Besides," Molly continued, "Harry's already part of the family. This just makes it official, I suppose." Then she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and fixed them both with a stern look. "But if I find out that you boys have been keeping secrets and lying to me again, you'll both feel the length of my wooden spoon against your backsides. Understand?"

"Yes, Mum."

"Yes, Molly."

"And you," Molly said, turning her attention to Harry. "You take care of my son."

"Of course," Harry said as he reached out and slipped his hand into Ron's.

"Right. Well, I'd better get back and sort out the mess that your father's probably made of my kitchen. He means well, bless him, but he hasn't got a clue." She reached down and picked up the now-empty Butterbeer bottle, then turned to head back to the house, saying, "I'll expect you in the kitchen in two minutes."

Ron wrapped his arms around Harry, and Harry braced himself as Ron sagged against him, his relief palpable.

"That went better than I thought it would," Ron said after a moment.

Harry stared at him incredulously. Then huffed softly as he shook his head and said, "Only you would think that went well, mate. Although it could have been a lot worse."

"Definitely," Ron said.

"Of course, once she finds out that everybody else already knew, she'll -"

"Oh, shit. Quick," Ron said as he grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him out of the shed. "Maybe we can get there in time to stop someone letting the cat out of the bag."

Harry sniggered as Ron towed him towards the back door of the Burrow. It was a racing certainty that someone would let something slip. But even the prospect of another bollocking from Molly couldn't dampen his mood.

Ron flung open the back door, to find Molly berating Arthur for not telling her about Ron while Bill, Fred and George were offering a spirited defence of his actions. All at the same time. It was absolute bedlam. And it was home. And Harry couldn't be happier.

End

Written for the hprwfqf on insane journal.

Challenge: Ron is terrified to tell his mother about him and Harry. They set up hints for her, hoping she'll catch on but she just thinks it means they both have girlfriends. She tells them to invite them both over for dinner so she can meet them. They agree but both of their partners fall suspiciously "sick" on the big night. Mrs. Weasley thinks something odd is going on until she catches Ron and Harry making out in the garden. And then it all makes sense. Bonus points for Irrational!Ron and a coming out speech.


End file.
